Chicago Northwest Blog

ILLINOIS TOLLWAY OPENS NEW RAMPS AT MEACHAM AND ROSELLE ROADS

AS PART OF JANE ADDAMS MEMORIAL TOLLWAY (I-90) REBUILDING AND WIDENING PROJECT

I-90 roadway reconstruction work wrapping up on schedule and within budget

DOWNERS GROVE, IL (November 21, 2016)– The Illinois Tollway today opened new ramps in Schaumburg at both the Roselle Road Interchange and the new Meacham Road Interchange providing new access for drivers and economic opportunity for communities as part of the $2.5 billion Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) Rebuilding and Widening Project.

Completion of the ramps comes at the same time the Illinois Tollway is moving construction barrels out of the way on I-90 and delivering a new roadway and new lanes from the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to I-39 on schedule and within budget. The I-90 corridor from downtown Chicago to Rockford, including the Kennedy Expressway, CTA and Pace Bus service, serves nearly one million travelers per day via transit and roadway travel.

“The Illinois Tollway is committed to delivering infrastructure improvements that offer innovative transportation solutions to reduce congestion and invest our customer’s money wisely,” said Illinois Tollway Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom. “The Tollway system, including I-90, is an integral part of a regional roadway network that will carry drivers from Rockford to Chicago safely and efficiently for decades to come.”

The four-year, I-90 construction project is delivering improvements to 16 interchanges, more than 100 bridges and rebuilding and widening 62 miles of roadway, with four lanes in each direction between the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) near O’Hare International Airport and Elgin, as well as three lanes in each direction from Randall Road in Elgin to I-39 in Rockford.

By mid-day today, November 18, the Tollway is opening ramps at the new Meacham Road Interchange creating access for westbound traffic exiting and entering I-90. In addition, construction is now complete at the Roselle Road Interchange improving access to and from the east and proving a new eastbound exit ramp.

The new interchange improvements will provide opportunity for continued economic development along Roselle Road, create new access to retail, entertainment and corporate developments along Meacham Road and open up access between the Tollway and the northwest suburbs. Up to 27,000 vehicles are expected to use the Roselle Road Interchange daily with up to 14,000 vehicles expected to use the new Meacham Road Interchange daily.

“As part of this project, the Illinois Tollway has worked with the Illinois Department of Transportation, counties and local communities to invest approximately $420 million in interchange improvements to created and improve access,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Greg Bedalov. “Working together we are combining our resources to build community gateways delivering economic development opportunities and jobs to the region.”

For example, the community partnerships and intergovernmental collaboration are leading to success stories along I-90:

The new Irene Road Interchange in Belvidere is supporting business growth including Fiat Chrysler Automobile’s manufacturing of the top-selling Jeep Cherokee line in an assembly plant that employs more than 4,000 workers.

Expansion of the Illinois Route 47 Interchange in Huntley led Weber-Stephen Product’s decision to open a 757,000-square-foot global distribution center to consolidate what was once a multi-state operation.

Expansion of the Barrington Road Interchange in Hoffman Estates will provide full access to the $125 million Alexian Brothers Women and Children’s Hospital 210,000-square-foot facility.

Zurich North America relocated its Schaumburg headquarters to a new 753,300-square-foot building adjacent to the new Meacham Road Interchange and is the largest single-tenant suburban office development in the Chicago area since 2001 with about 2,500 employees and contractors.

In addition, the Illinois Tollway has also begun opening new lanes in both directions on I-90 as roadway construction is completed. By end of the weekend, construction crews will have opened new lanes for drivers in both directions between Roselle Road to just east of Arlington Heights Road. Roadwork is also complete in both directions from Mannheim Road to the River Road Toll Plaza.

Drivers will have access to four lanes in each direction throughout the 25-mile eastern segment by the end of December, with work to continue throughout the corridor to complete lighting, landscaping and other work. Work on the 37-mile western segment of I-90 between Elgin and Rockford was completed in 2014.

Rebuilding and widening the 58-year-old Jane Addams Memorial Tollway from the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to I-39 in Rockford is part of the 15-year, $12 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future. In addition, the project is accommodating transit and direct access for the public to Pace Bus service for the first time in the agency’s history. The new I-90 also features flexible infrastructure and technology to enable the Tollway to add new “smart” features as needed and introduce the first SmartRoad in 2017 incorporating active traffic management, communicating in real-time with drivers and delivering a 21st century corridor.

Construction of the new 62-mile-long roadway between I-39 and I-294 included nearly 2.4 million cubic yards of concrete, 1.4 million tons of asphalt and about 72,000 tons of steel to construct the new pavement and bridges. More than 7 million cubic yards of earth were moved as part of this project.

The I-90 Rebuilding and Widening Project involved more than 540 firms, including 415 construction companies and 125 professional services firms, with nearly 200 firms identified as disadvantaged, minority- and women-owned business enterprise firms and 15 veteran-owned businesses. Work on the western segment from Rockford to Elgin has created or sustained as many as 22,840 jobs.

Completion of work on the I-90 corridor will provide congestion relief to commercial drivers, commuters and distance travelers by replacing 58-year-old pavement, increasing capacity and improving safety and mobility. Average daily traffic volumes on I-90 have increased more than 200 percent in the past 30 years, more than 7 percent growth per year. The new roadway is projected to serve up to 400,000 average daily vehicles in 2017 when construction is complete.

Improvements will save drivers up to 30 minutes on the average trip from Rockford to O’Hare Airport, save drivers 27 minutes on the average trip from Elgin to the Kennedy Expressway and save drivers $440 million annually in fuel and productivity costs.

About Move Illinois

The Illinois Tollway’s 15-year, $12 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future, will improve mobility, relieve congestion, reduce pollution, create as many as 120,000 jobs and link economies across the region. Move Illinois will address the remaining needs of the existing Tollway system; rebuild and widen the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) as a state-of-the-art 21st century corridor; construct a new interchange to connect the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to I-57; build a new, all-electronic Elgin O’Hare Western Access and fund planning studies for other emerging projects.

About the Illinois Tollway

The Illinois Tollway is a user-fee system that receives no state or federal funds for maintenance and operations. The agency maintains and operates 292 miles of interstate tollways in 12 counties in Northern Illinois, including the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355), the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) the Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80) and the Illinois Route 390 Tollway.